Hope's Story: From The Beginning of The Storm
by Angel's Hope and Krystal
Summary: Hope Roseilidia Ishtar. Thief Queen and lover to Bakura. Her whole life has been shaped to lead to where she is today, a balance of the light and darkness, a person who could understand both Hell and Heaven. But she had to get here on her own, face the storm herself. This is how she did it. This, is her story from the very beginning.
1. Born Into The Light

Monday, December 9th, 1996, the day I was born. It was...from what I remember from what my parents told me, a rather cold night. Very dark as well, since I was born at around 1:06 am, but the full moon shed enough light to illuminate the dark surroundings, heh, should have been taken as a sign as to what I would turn out to be. But lets start from the beginning. When my life was as to be expected, to be in the light. Who wouldns sake.

By age five, things were normal, normal as any child who had parents that were rather odd in a way. After all, one held a Millennium Item, an ancient mystical item created in Ancient Egypt by a Pharaoh and his loyal people, oh how I despise them, and one who was a famous architect. Lets not forget my little sister, Mage, who was probably the most normal out of us all. She was such a little cutie, having my fathers delicate green eyes. I on the other hand had my mothers purple eyes. Yes, purple. Cool, right?

Everything was so peaceful, nice and calm, even at school. Course, I wasnd be a witch or something and turn them all into toads, how silly. That would be where my love for roses comes in, I would always go to the schools spikes pierced my skin and imbedded themselves within my arm.

By that point in time, everything was as it had always been, an interesting sort of peaceful. I loved it. I loved the light and everything that went with it, but that all changed in a second. It all changed the day my parents decided to take me and my sister to the museum where my father worked in Domino City. The day I lost everything.


	2. Enter The Storm

We were in the car, heading over to the museum that my sister and I were so excited about seeing. My excitement was crushed in an instant. My world began its slow descent into chaos as soon as we were rammed from behind with another car. Naturally, my father went out to talk with the driver of the guilty car and he was shot, right through the forehead by the damned driver. He killed him. MY OWN FATHER. Right in front of me and the rest of my family. I heard my little sister scream and my mother gasp as she watched him fall to the road, dead. She turned and looked in the back seat at me and Mage with a kind face, but her eyes showed the horror and fear that we all felt as the men who had just killed my father a few moments before got closer, "Hope, take your sister and run. Please, you need to get out of here. I love you both so-"

She was cut off as a second gunshot rang through the air and I saw it as it left a red stain in her hair. They had just killed my mother and she slumped into the car seat. She was gone. Now my sister and I were orphans, how would we survive? Without a second thought as my mother's words of running away entered my mind, I took my sister by her wrist and opened the door with all my might as I ran for my life as well as Mage's down the street and past the men. We were so close to an alleyway that we would only be able to fit down. We were so close to safety and freedom. My dream was crushed right then.

A third, and final shot of a gun pierced the air as I whipped my head around to see my sister with a hole in her stomach. Catching her as she collapsed to the ground I held her hand as she slowly bled to death. She kept saying how happy she was and how she could see Mommy and Daddy. Even in all this pain she was still happy as I cried my eyes out while the men searched our car and my mother for something that I wouldn't know till many years later, the Millennium Bracelet.

As her eyes shut for one final time, I felt my heart grow heavy as I made the regretful choice of leaving her there. Turning and running quickly into the alleyway and escaping from the monsters that had just killed my family. I was all alone. Alone. All because of them. I hate them. I hate them all! I hate this world! What world would allow a seven year old to go through all this?! With that, I ran farther down the alleyway as pained tears stung my eyes and slipped down my face. Coming to a stop at a dead end I then collapsed to my knees in a fit of crying and slowly curled up on the cold ground. That was where I slept that night after my crying had worn me down. That night, I truly entered the storm that would soon become my life.


	3. Against The Wind

From that day on, I was alone. I had to survive by my own means. Deal with the darkness by myself and even fight people who deemed me too weak for this world. I was, I know I was, just up until that fateful day when I lost my family. Since, after that day, something changed in me. I had seeped into the deepest depths of hell but I still wanted to fight my way out of it so that way I could be strong and prevent anything like that from ever happening again.

I became a thief, a cold person to this world, someone who never showed trust to anyone. By age thirteen, I became the Thief Queen of that town. I had learned so much on my own and I felt...powerful, like I could do anything. Like I could kill the men who destroyed my life. After all, they had tried taking the bracelet and killing me after they discovered where I was, but they didn't succeed. I had fought them with all my might and defeated them. It was then, that I realized after I had found the whole experience so...exhilarating, that I discovered something about myself through all of this. I was growing to love the darkness. The murky and angered part of this world. The side that was mysterious and exciting.

But all that came with a price, I had spawned a part of me that was dangerous, sadistic and all but insane. My dark half. However, there was still the part of me that wanted to reach the light again, the part of me that still rejected fully entering the shadows permanently, that was my light half. The part of me that still held my innocence and happiness. Had it not been for the bracelet though...that side of me wouldn't exist. I wouldn't exist because had it been torn from my arm, I would've been consumed by that evil side. I was literally one injury away from destroying the town I had grown up in.

In the end, after going through so much, I was still so fragile. But that's what made me strong. I was prepared to go against what was expected of me, what I was meant to be. That's what pushed me to survive, it pushed me to change my life. In spite of it all, I still simply wanted what was best for me. This all became comprehensible to me by age sixteen, a turning point in anyone's life, but mine was major. During that year, I met the last of my family who I didn't even know existed, I found my place in this world and...I found someone like me, who had been through the same hell I had and that person allowed me to feel love.


	4. Turning Points and Discoveries

Age sixteen. My birthday to be exact, I started having these dreams about a spiky, white-haired, man with brown eyes. I never knew his name, never knew why he came to the half-light and half-dark forest that was my mind. He was...nice to me, he understood everything I went through and I to him. Each morning I would wake up actually happy because of seeing that mystery man in my dreams. One day, he told me his name. It was the day I started being able to go Domino Highschool, the name Bakura was in my mind all day, his name. However...he said to not confuse him with someone else. I had no idea what he meant, the only people who I became friends with was Angel, Krystal, and Ryou, who at least looked like Bakura, however, none of them had the first name Bakura or was at least called that.

The turning point in my life that had come so quickly was leaving me, I stopped having those wondrous dreams. I stopped being happy. Ryou was the only one who saw through my fake smiles that entire month, he was the only one who saw through my pathetic attempt at hiding my sadness. We were walking home as I tried explaining the dreams to him when he suddenly got this pain in his chest. He told me to go away and stay safe from him but I didn't leave, if he could be there for me then I'd be there for him.

Once we were in an alleyway he sat down and gripped his shirt near his chest. I sat in front of him, waiting to see if there was anything I could do. Then...it stopped. As quickly as the pain came about for him, it stopped. But I did notice something...off about him. His whole demeanor had changed, he seemed stronger and more outgoing than the shy, quiet, boy that had been sitting in front of me just a moment before. I noticed his hair had gotten a bit more spiked as well, like he had somehow teased his hair up while I wasn't looking. Hesitantly placing my hand on his shoulder I spoke quietly, "Ryou...is something wrong?"

Even though I knew this wasn't Ryou I still spoke his name as if it was him. I guess whoever was here now found that amusing since they began laughing, a deeper laugh than Ryou's ever was, "I thought I told you not to confuse me with someone else, Hope."

I felt my heart stop for a moment, my hand slip away from his shoulder as he spoke and looked up at me. I recognized everything, from the eyes to the voice. This was the man from my dreams. This was Bakura. For the longest time I couldn't speak, I was in shock, totally appalled as to how he was here, sitting in front of me, "H-how...are you here?"

He smirked a bit, "Why...I'm a spirit, one from one of those same items that caused our family's deaths."

He then proceeded to hold up the necklace like pendent that I had seen countless times before that he referred to as the Millennium Ring, "I've been trapped in here for a millennia and when I found you on one of my walks through town...I entered your dreams with this. I wanted to see what you were like. You surprised me, especially with your memories, your lifestyle and your soul. I've never met someone so alike me before. It's strange."

I needed to prove he was really here, I needed to prove to myself that he wasn't just one of my dreams that had spawned from my longing for seeing him, the one who understood me. Then I did the unthinkable to a person like him. I hugged him. I felt him. I felt the warmth and solidity of a body instead of the spirit type form he had been in my dreams. He hugged me back, it was so unlike him, to show any sort of compassion towards me. Perhaps he was just as glad as I was to know that he was actually there in front of me.

Shutting my eyes I mumbled ever so quietly, "Bakura...where did you go? I missed you…"

He stiffened. Had I upset him or was he surprised to hear what I had to say? This was all so confusing to me. Then I felt him kiss the top of my head, like he'd always do when he had to leave during my dreams before I woke up only a moment later, "I couldn't find where you had run off to..I'm sorry…"

Smiling as I looked up at him and grinned as I nodded a bit, "You are forgiven."

Bakura grinned back at me, he seemed to find it funny that the girl who never showed any emotions except when he was around to be out in public and hugging him, "Would you like to head home? Oh...right, I forgot, you don't have a home."

It was true. I didn't have a true home. Each night I would find a place suitable within the city to sleep for the night and then carry my bag around with me during the day. The month that he had stopped visiting me was the month I jumped to the other end of the city, far away from Ryou's apartment. It all made sense now, as to why he never saw me.

I never begged or complained while on the streets either, even when I had to carry all my things to school since I had no money for bus fare, "No...it's alright, why don't we just go to your place or something. Ryou may want to wake up there more than anywhere else."

He chuckled a bit as he nodded some, "I suppose. Come on then, lets go."

Standing up, he held out his hand to me. Smiling a bit, I took it and hoisted myself up beside him. This was all so new to me. I had someone in the real world I could talk to and hang out with. Though it was odd that he was a spirit and had to take over one of my friend's bodies to be here, I didn't care. He didn't seem to hurt them too much, so I let it slide. What happened next though, at that apartment that Ryou called home, would alter my life forever. It would even unknowingly lead to my death in the future years to come.


End file.
